My mother always wondered what happened to the birds that would brain themselves on her picture window. After all, there wasn't a heap of dead birds down there, so she figured they must recover.

Then one day she was working outside and heard a "thwack" and saw the bird fall. Instantly, a squirrel ran out of the bushes, grabbed the bird, and made off with it. All my illusions about squirrels were torn away in one moment...

For the record, Mom tried a variety of things to keep the birds from hitting the window, but nothing seemed to work.

In the west, chickaree seems to be used for both of the pine squirrels: the red squirrel (T. hudsonicus) and the Douglas squirrel (T. douglasii). The former is widespread in the east up to eastern Washington, while the Douglas squirrel is a western species. Most folks back east however have never heard the word 'chickaree'.